The number of communication channels is increasing annually. Typically channels refer to the delivery mechanism, either as the:

Physical channel; e.g. desktop, mobile.

Form of delivery in a physical channel; e.g. the "product detail page", "product category page" for desktop, or "mobile web", "mobile app" for mobile.

However, you (probably) do not want to use exactly the same content for all channels - you need to optimize your content according to the specific channel.

Content fragments allow you to:

Consider how to reach target audiences efficiently across channels.

Create and manage channel-neutral editorial content.

Build content pools for a range of channels.

Design content variations for specific channels.

Add images to your text by inserting assets (mixed-media fragments).

These content fragments can then be assembled to provide experiences over a variety of channels.

Content Fragments and Content Services

AEM Content Services are designed to generalize the description and delivery of content in/from AEM beyond a focus on web pages.

They provide the delivery of content to channels that are not traditional AEM web pages, using standardized methods that can be consumed by any client. These channels can include:

Single Page Applications

Native Mobile Applications

other channels and touch-points external to AEM

Delivery is made in JSON format.

AEM Content Fragments can be used to describe and manage structured content. Structured content is defined in models that can contain a variety of content types; including text, numerical data, boolean, date and time, and more.

Together with the JSON export capabilities of AEM core components, this structured content can then be used to deliver AEM content to channels other than AEM pages.

Types of Content Fragment

Content fragments can be either:

Simple fragments
These have no predefined structure. They contain only text, and images.
These are based on the Simple Fragment template.

Fragments that contain structured content
These are based on a Content Fragment Model, which predefines a structure for the resulting fragment.
These can also be used to realize Content Services using the JSON Exporter.

Content Type

Content fragments are:

Stored as Assets:

Content fragments (and their variations) can be created and maintained from the Assets console.

Visual assets inserted into the content fragment itself are attached to the preceding paragraph. When the fragment is added to a page these assets are moved in relation to that paragraph when in-between content is added.

Constituent Parts of a Content Fragment

The content fragment assets are made up of the following parts (either directly or indirectly):

Fragment Elements

Elements correlate to the data fields holding content.

For fragments with structured content, you use a content model to create the content fragment. The elements (fields) specified in the model define the structure of the fragment. These elements (fields) can be of a variety of data-types.

For simple fragments:

The content is held in one (or more) multi-line text field(s), or element(s).

The elements are defined in the fragment template (cannot be defined when authoring the fragment, see Content Fragment Templates).

Fragment Paragraphs

Blocks of text, that are:

separated by vertical spaces (carriage return)

in multi-line text elements; in either simple or structured fragments

In the Rich Text and Markdown modes, a paragraph can be formatted as a header, in which case it and the following paragraph belong together as one unit.

Enable content control during page authoring.

Assets Inserted into a Fragment (Mixed-Media Fragments)

Assets (images) inserted into the actual fragment and used as the internal content of a fragment.

Can be (inadvertently) removed from a fragment by switching to Plain Text format.

Note:

Assets can also be added as additional (in-between) content when using a fragment on a page; using either Associated Content or assets from the Assets browser.

Associated Content

This is content external to, but with editorial relevance for, a fragment. Typically images, videos or other fragments.

The individual assets within the collection are available to be used with the fragment in the page editor, when it is added to a page. This means that they are optional, depending on the requirements of the specific channel.

Content models definitions require a title and one data element; everything else is optional. The model defines a minimal scope of the fragment and default content if applicable. Authors cannot change the defined structure when authoring fragment content.

Defines the basics properties of a simple fragment (title, number of text elements, tag definitions).

Template definitions require a title and one text element; everything else is optional. The template defines a minimal scope of the fragment and default content if applicable. Authors can later extend a fragment beyond what is defined in the template.